Our Governing Body – Pen Portraits

I am a co-opted Governor who looks to support and help Kirk Merrington Primary School provide the best possible education and care for every child who attends.

I have worked in education for almost forty years and passionately believe that every child has a right to have access to the best education possible. The role of the Governing Body is to work alongside the headteacher and staff of the school to ensure that this is provided.

I will use my experience as a headteacher to challenge and support so that together with the dedicated and hardworking headteacher and staff we develop a school where all children feel secure, happy and have many opportunities to learn and flourish.

I am thrilled to be the headteacher at Kirk Merrington Primary School and am now in my 3rd year of this headship.

It is a real privilege to work in such a special school with a fantastic staff team, children and school governors. I am committed to ensuring that our school can provide the very best opportunities for all of our children and encourage us all to continue to be outstanding in all aspects.

I have been teaching for 20 years, previously working as a class teacher and deputy head. I have a genuine love of learning and continue to encourage positive learning and development for our children at Kirk Merrington.

My ethos for our children is for them to feel safe, be happy and enjoy coming to school to learn new things.

I applied to be a parent governor as I wanted to contribute to this amazing school and help be apart of the children’s learning and happiness. My son is in year one and I have a 2 year old that I am hoping to be joining him at the school in a few years’ time so I can know I can give quite a few years of my time in trying to help make that difference.

My professional background is in the fire industry. I was an aviation fire fighter for 10 years most part of that in the RAF. I have now worked in fire safety for 8 years and I have made my way up to Senior Fire Safety Officer for Durham and Darlington Fire Service. I am a very driven and professional individual and I take a real interest in working in the community in my work life and in personal life. I am looking forward to getting stuck into this role and contributing to make the best possible environment for the children to learn and grow.

This is an exceptional school and I only believe by working together we can make it even better.

I have decided to take the opportunity to be a parent governor because I really want to contribute to education in a positive way. I want to share my skills and experiences to help all young children get off to the best start they can, regardless of where they come from or how fortunate they are.

I was fortunate enough to really enjoy my time at school and look back on it with fond memories. I hope the children at Kirk Merrington feel the same when they are adults. If I can help them feel this way, then I will feel that I have made a difference. If you start anything with enjoyment then you can create a whole wealth of amazing opportunities. Throughout my career so far I have worked as part of a team. I strongly believe in the ethos of teamwork and how problems are solved by using and trusting the skills and abilities of others. I am looking forward to seeing the children build relationships with staff and pupils to help them learn.

My career background is Mechanical Engineering, I spent almost 14 years in the Royal Navy Submarine Service and now the clean and waste water industry. I have spent the majority of this time in leadership roles. The main skills I will be bringing to KMPS are an in depth knowledge of Health and Safety and how it applies in a workplace, the ability to be totally impartial and weigh up consequence, liaising with customers/contractors and teamwork.

My main personal interest is sport of all kinds. I will look forward to actively encouraging all the children that show any interest in this subject especially.

I have been a school governor for a number of year in the role of ‘Co-opted Governor’ and I run the schools Wrap Around Care Service Little Darlings as well as running my own business Little Darlings Daycare.

I was delighted to be offered this role as I currently have one child within the school, and another child at secondary having already gone through Kirk Merrington Primary and I reside within the schools catchment area. I strongly trust the schools ethos and I believe our support network is a great asset to the school and the Parents of Kirk Merrington Primary, and I hope to be supporting the school many years after my own children have left.

I would say that I am almost fanatical about the education of our children and this is where my area of expertise lies, as an Early Years professional I have a lot to offer the role, but it is probably why I felt drawn to this career choice as I strongly believe that every child deserves the same chances in life.

I try to bring my passion for Early years Education into my Governor role and I am committed to supporting the Headteacher and all the staff children and parents involved within our school. I will also strive to continue my personal development and be the best that I possibly can.

I have been a parent governor at Kirk Merrington Primary School since September 2017.

My connection with the school goes back to 2009 when my daughter joined the reception class and then spent seven very happy years here. My son is currently in year 5 and is also flourishing. Over these years, I have seen the school grow from strength to strength. We have expanded, moved into great new facilities and I have seen that children make excellent progress with their learning and life skills and all are encouraged to reach their full potential.

I am a member of the PTA and for the past two years I have also come into school most Wednesday mornings to help reception children with their reading. This time spent in school has been useful to me as I have gained an understanding of day to day school life and it has been valuable for my role as governor with responsibility for the ‘Early Years’.

I work for the NHS and I have experience of staff appraisal and professional development and I hope that I can use these skills in the committees that I am involved with.

I am happy to support the staff and parents of Kirk Merrington Primary School in helping our fantastic school to continue to develop and thrive.

I originally applied to be a Parent Governor so that I could ensure that my daughter got the best education she could and have the ability to try and influence this. However I soon realised that I could manage this process for all the children by detaching myself as a Parent and looking through the lens of a Governor.

Being able to take part in ensuring that all of our children have the best education, the safest environment and the ability to enjoy and speak freely in the school is a pleasure. I want to see the children grow both academically and socially.

I also work with a great team on the Governing body and what I can only describe as exceptional teaching staff. One of my tasks is managing part of the school development plan. This revolves around “strengthening the Leadership and management of the school”

My professional background is in Management. I have worked in the rail industry for 30 years and have 21 years’ experience in this sphere, being responsible for 238 staff with a budget of £12m. I also work closely with my Union colleagues where consultation and negotiating skills are essential.

I believe my skills that I can bring to Kirk Merrington Primary school are Leadership, problem solving, man management and auditing.

I am excited to take on the new role as Staff Link Governor at Kirk Merrington Primary School.

I am currently a class teacher in Year 4 and 5 at Kirk Merrington Primary School. I have been a qualified teacher for 6 years, having taught at Kirk Merrington for the last 4 years. Most of my teaching career has been in Key Stage One having a specialist degree in Early Primary Education. I have had several roles within school including leading various foundation subjects (History, Geography, R.E and Computing).

I am currently the P.E. subject leader. Within this role, I support members of staff to ensure high quality teaching of this subject as well as being a mentor to our P.E. Sports Apprentice. Alongside developing the teaching of the subject, I manage the School Sports Funding ensuring we are meeting the criteria for the government scheme. I also support our current English lead having recently taken over the responsibilities for monitoring reading across the school and am enjoying the challenges the new responsibility brings. I look forward to using my skills and internal school role to help further develop the school for our pupils.

I am a local authority governor at Kirk Merrington Primary School. I am new to the area and excited to get involved in the local community by supporting my local school. As a statistician working for the Department for Education, I am committed to making a positive difference to children’s lives and education. I enjoy interrogating data to find solutions that will make this difference. I produce and present high-quality statistics to help the department make evidence-based decisions to improve services. I hope to use my analytical skills at a local level to help Kirk Merrington run efficiently and provide excellent education to their pupils. I believe the wellbeing of both pupils and staff is essential to ensuring a school delivers the best education possible. I hope to promote and build on the strong culture which already exists in the school. Playing sport and keeping active is a passion of mine; I currently play netball and enjoy walking and cycling.